Chapter 41.1: Great Qing Empire (1/2)
Chapter 41.1: Great Qing Empire (1/2)
Wolf Cultivation Town!
The great demon invasion battle was over. This was mainly because Zhu Hongyi was unable to break the Heavenly Wolf Sect’s defensive array; he could only passively endure the array’s bombardment.
To be struck by lightning while in the opponent’s turf? Of course, Zhu Hongyi was unwilling to stay a second longer.
The remaining demons escaped on their own after he left. What else could they have done? Even the Astral Infant stage cultivator had left. Staying would mean death after having been exposed.
Eventually, what remained were the ruins of Wolf Cultivation Town and a bunch of stunned disciples of the Golden Crow Sect.
What… What’s happening?
In the Heavenly Wolf Sect—Murong Luguang had already sent disciples to inspect Wolf Cultivation Town.
Amidst the ruins, Zhang Shenxu placed a hand over his chest and vomited blood as he saw that all his juniors were injured. They had obtained no virtue merit, at all, and were almost wiped out. How tragic!
“Senior apprentice-brother Shenxu, I think we fell into a trap!”
“Wang Ke deceived us! Cough cough. Pfff!”
“I almost died. How scary! That was an Astral Infant stage demon!”
…………………………….
………………….
……
All the Golden Crow Sect disciples talked with a fearful mood, hands covering their wounds.
“Cough, cough. Disciples from the Heavenly Wolf Sect are coming soon. Don’t let them see us in such a shameful state! Wang Ke? Wang Ke! I’m going to flay him!” Zhang Shenxu snarled.
“Yes, flay both Wang Ke and Zhang Zhengdao!” his juniors added to the flames and helped him move to the nearby courtyard.
Strangely, Wang Ke’s manor was completely undamaged by the recent battle. Everyone walked back to his manor, ready to bite off his nose.
“Baaaam! ”
The gate was kicked open; a bunch of badly injured Golden Crow Sect disciples rushed into the main hall.
“Let’s flay Wang Ke! Let me do it!” some shouted.
But everyone froze when they entered the main hall.
Wang Ke and Zhang Zhengdao disappeared; only the two disciples tasked to keep watch were stripped naked and laid there motionlessly.
Flay Wang Ke? No! Wang Ke flayed us!
Although he didn’t kill those two, there was no difference between getting killed and being stripped naked. Humiliation! Immeasurable humiliation!
Zhang Shenxu prided himself as being a wise and rare genius while outside the Ten-thousand Great Mountains; he had exposed and unraveled a vast amount of tricks and schemes. Still, he fell a second time into one of Wang Ke and Zhang Zhengdao’s traps!
“Wang Ke? Zhang Zhengdao? Pfff!” Zhang Shenxu was so angry that blood shot out of his mouth.
“Senior apprentice-brother, calm down! They are freaks!” His juniors tried to console him.
“Bull***t. Freaks? They’re just ants that I can crush at any moment. My cranes! Summon all cranes from our sect! Find them! Find the two bastards, even if you have to dig three feet underground! Even if you have to search through the entire Ten-thousand Great Mountains! I don’t care who backs them. I want them dead!” Zhang Shenxu roared.
“Squeak! “Squeak! …!”
Soon after, cranes were summoned over one after the other. They flew out in all directions starting from Wolf Cultivation Town and searched for the infamous pair.
————–
Ten days later, at a mountain shoulder—
Wang Ke and Zhang Zhengdao looked up into the sky and saw a crane fly past them.
“Zhang Shenxu is really blowing up the problem! Damn it! Does he need that many cranes to search for us everywhere? Ptooey! I dare you to search on your own. Shame on you for getting helpers from the Golden Crow Sect! Ptooey!” Wang Ke spat in the crane’s direction out of frustration.
“Yeah! That’s right! We can only travel on foot because of him, it would be dangerous to fly! He made us waste too much time!” Zhang Zhengdao grumbled too.
“Okay, we should be there soon. Ignore them!” Wang Ke said.
They saw a vast plain as he spoke.
“This is the central region of the Ten-thousand Great Mountains. This should be a mortal zone, right?” Zhang Zhengdao asked curiously when he saw ordinary people’s caravans moving in the distance.
“You’re right. This plain at the center of the Ten-thousand Great Mountains is the mortal zone! Most of the disciples in the Ten-thousand Great Mountains were enrolled from this region! There are three empires here!” Wang Ke looked at the plain with narrowed eyes.
“The Ten-thousand Great Mountains are really strange. There’s no spiritual Qi in the mortal zone, at all?” Zhang Zhengdao was perplexed.
“If not, why would there only be mortals here then? Mortals who pursue martial arts here will do their best to make their way out of the mortal zone when they reach the Innate Stage. They then migrate to the cultivation towns in hopes of entering an immortal sect. All these people are thinking of leaving this place! Back then, I…!” Wang Ke reminisced with a frown.
“You came out from this mortal zone?” Zhang Zhengdao asked curiously.
“Forget it. Let’s stop the chatter and quickly follow the Longing Orb’s guidance. It’s pointing us toward the Great Qing Empire!” Wang Ke said impatiently.
The two entered the mortal zone. There was no spiritual Qi at all, just as expected. The pair pushed forward after purchasing some horses, finally reaching a city three days later.
“The Qing Capital?” Zhang Zhengdao saw the name of the city.
“This is the capital of the Great Qing Empire, the Qing Capital! Follow me!” Wang Ke replied.
That was merely a mortal city, which looked like those ancient cities that Wang Ke used to see on TV; there were merchants crying their wares along the streets, and warriors walking about with their swords.
The two entered the city and reached the gate of a manor, then Wang Ke used antiseptics to remove the pimples on his face.
“The Great General’s Residence? The owner of this manor must be an influential official in the Great Qing Empire!” Zhang Zhengdao said as he looked at the plaque by the gate.
A servant came and opened the door after a few knocks. He was pleasantly surprised when he saw Wang Ke’s face; he was pleasantly surprised and was about to greet him with a bow—
Wang Ke stopped him with a wave of his hand before leading Zhang Zhengdao into the manor. The servant took the cue and quickly had someone settle Wang Ke’s horses while immediately shutting the gates.
Wang Ke and Zhang Zhengdao headed straight to the main hall. The Great General’s Residence was bustling with liveliness; everyone was doing their tasks swiftly. Soon, an armored man with a massive beard came to welcome them.
“Hmm? Isn’t this your big cousin-brother? Now he has a beard?” Zhang Zhengdao looked at the incoming great general in shock.
Big cousin-brother? Wang Ke had recently sent his big cousin-brother to disguise himself as Immortal Zhang from the Golden Crow Sect a second time. That was the same person who had swindled She Tianba to the point of bankruptcy. Zhang Zhengdao didn’t expect him to be the great general of the Great Qing Empire.
Zhang Zhengdao came to a sudden realization. “I got it now. I got it. Wang Ke, I was still wondering how your clan members evacuated from the Zhu Cultivation Town overnight. They came to hide inside the mortal zone… No wonder She Tianba couldn’t find any one of them. They were all here!”
“Greetings, Clan Lord!” the big cousin-brother saluted.
Everyone present bowed toward Wang Ke, too.
“Good. About the twenty-thousand pounds of spirit stones that you received previously, how were they spent?” Wang Ke asked.
”Reporting. I disseminated them according to your instructions. People in the mortal zone can only rely on spirit stones to cultivate because there’s no spiritual Qi here. Those spirit stones really filled up a big gap in our supplies; we will have enough in the meantime. However, some of our clan members have proven to be very talented, which has cost us quite a few spirit stones!” the big cousin-brother acknowledged.
“No worries, I brought more spirit stones this time. We mustn’t slow down on cultivation, and we also need to build a firm foundation! They will have more dangerous missions waiting ahead of them,” Wang Ke assured him.
“Understood! The big cousin-brother replied.
“This must be Zhang Zhengdao! I’ve seen you before. Do you miss my big cousin-sister? Should I send her a message on your behalf?” the big cousin-brother asked Zhang Zhengdao.
Zhang Zhengdao’s face froze. That big cousin-sister with a full beard?What message?What has this got to do with me?You are crazy!